Crucifix War
The Crucifix War was a conflict primarily fought in Mississippi between the Klansmen Confederacy and the Brethren of the Shroud from 2268 to 2275. Fought from Forrest to the Florida Parishes, the Crucifix War had a major effect on the region, and its after-effects and successor conflicts are still being felt in 2287. Backround The origins of the Crucifix War traces back to 2239 when several swamper clans in thr Florida Parishes were united into a confederation by the Brethren of the Shroud. In response, the Klansmen Confederacy, led by Grand Wizard Nathan Royce, attacked the Swamp Brethren Confederation in the Second Park War. The Brethren did not interfere in that conflict, since they did not want to overextend themselves. However, the Brethren did learn after that not to send Clerics west down I-15 into Klan territory. For years, they did not do this and eventually they forget why they did it in the first place. In 2268, an adventurous group of Brethren Clerics heard of a ruined city to the west inhabited by hundreds of ghouls. Eager for new converts, the naïve Clerics journeyed down I-15 and came upon the Jackson ruins, which were indeed populated mostly by ghouls. Overjoyed, the clerics quickly set about preaching Brethren doctrine, making their base in the Jackson State Capitol. What the clerics did not know was that they were being watched. The Klansmen Confederacy had outposts or "hunting lodges" in Jackson and Grand Titan Malcolm Hyde had been watching the ghouls since they entered Jackson. Hyde ignored them initially. However, he soon figured out that the mutants were "stirring up trouble" and decided to deal with them. War Jackson Massacre Grand Titan Hyde and his fellow klansmen fell upon the Brethren clerics about a week after their arrival in the Jackson ruins on December 23, 2268. The clerics, unprepared for any kind of attack, were killed to a man. The old Jackson State Capitol was burned to clean out the ghoul corpses and Grand Titan Hyde considered the affair done at that. The Calm before the Storm However, one of the clerics, a ghoul woman named Mary, managed to make it make it back to Meridian in early 2269 and report what had happened to the Bishop. Enraged, the Bishop asked the Prophet of the Shroud himself, Noah Bollinger, if he could raise an army to teach this hicks in the west a lesson. Bollinger refused the Bishop at first, since he did not want to open up another front besides the ones the Brethren were already fighting on. It took almsot an entire year for the Bishop of Meridian to convince Bollinger to allow him to raise an army. When Bollinger finally repented, the Bishop raised a host of three hundred Brethren immediately and set out west on I-15, ready to dole out retribtuion. 1st Battle of Jackson Arriving in the Jacksom ruins on March 26, 2270, the Bishop set about cleaning out the klansmen who attacked the clerics, sure that it would be an easy task. Grand Titan Hyde, seeing a forward patrol of Brethren, attempted to ambush them but was met by the main Brethren army. His Klan militia suffered severe casualties and Hyde was forced to retreat back to one the Klan's outposts. In next few days, the Brethren went from outpost to outpost, killing any klansmen they found. Grand Titan Hyde contacted the Grand Dragon in Barnett and the Grand Wizard in Cotton Bluff, asking for assistance against an invading mutant army. The Grand Dragons unanimously pledged their support in the defense of the Klansmen Confederacy and converged on Barnett with their respective Klan militia. After that, Hyde fled to Barnett, knowing that holding out in Jackson would be hopeless. The Bishop of Meridian made himself comfortable, taking up residence in the Red Road Caravan's headquarters building in the Jackson ruins. After securing Jackson, the Bishop wanted to immediately pursue the fleeing klansmen to their home, Barnett. However, his advisors urged him to wait unitl his forces were ready. Thr Bishop grudgingly accepted that. Battle of Barnett Grand Wizard Jason Manning of the Klansmen Confederacy undertook the foreboding task of uniting all the disparate Klan militias under his command and readying to retake the Jackson ruins from the mutant invaders. At that moment, the klansmen had little idea of who their enemy was and what they wanted. Also, not all the Grand Dragons had areived yet and the ones that had were being very difficult. The Brethren had a clearer picture of what the UCK was through accounts from swampers and klansmen taken captive during the 1st Battle of Jackson. With this new information and his forces well rested, the Bishop of Meridian marched on Barnett, assured that his Brethren levies would smash whatever small untrained militia the klansmen no doubt offered. What the Bishop did find outside was an army the same size as his prepared for a pitched battle. The Bishop, although surprised, relentlessly pressed on and met Grand Wizard Manning in battle. The battle was short, dirty, and messy, with both armies fighting in their own savage way. However, the home field advantage as well as their dogged determination won the battle for the Klansmen Confederacy. The Brethren army was forced to retreat back to the Jackson ruins although their death count was rather low to wait for reinforcements. Siege of Jackson Pt. 1 The Bishop of Meridian was furious that these savages defeated his army in the field and radioed back to Meridian demanding reinforcements from Prophet Bollinger. Bollinger, embarassed and indignant, refused to aid the Bishop and told him "to get out of this yourself". Before long, the entire strength of the Klansmen Confederacy had gathered at Barnett, six hundred klansmen in all, and Grand Wizard Manning marched them south towards Brethren forces in the Jackson ruins. Informed of the large Klan army marching on him, the Bishop was torn. He knew he should probably retreat back up I-15 and accept his defeat. However, that shame would be too much, and the Bishop ordered the Brethren army to dig in for a siege. Seeing the Brethren digging in and fortifying their positions in the Jackson ruins, Grand Wizard Manning ordered the Klan army to follow suit. The Siege of Jackson had begun. In the first months of siege, skirmishes on the outskirts of the Jackson ruins were very common, with small groups of klansmen and Brethren clashing. These engagements soon became less common and by late 2271, the two armies barely interacted at all, with only the occasional gunshot being heard throughout the ruins. To try to intimidate the Brethren, the klansmen started burning large crosses outside Brethren positions. The Brethren mistook these as crucifixes like the ones they had seen in Louisiana and that was where the name Crucifix War came from. The Brethren, being composed mostly of ghouls, could survive the siege indefinitely with very little food or water and were determined to fight on. The Klan's resources became strained maintaining the siege, but the populace of the UCK was fully behind the war. Third Park War Pt. 1 The fact the Bishop was stupid enough to get himself and his entire army trapped by these klansmen frustrated Prophet Bollinger to no end. Siege of Jackson Pt. 2 Battle of the Wild Forrest Massacre Battle of Forrest Treaty of Forrest Third Park War Pt. 2 Aftermath Category:History Category:Mississippi